Obama Says ‘No Strategy Yet’ to Combat ISIS
The Guardian reports that President Barack Obama said that despite growing anticipation of airstrikes in Syria, he has not yet developed a strategy to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – indicating hesitation in expanding his bombing campaign into Syria.
“We don’t have a strategy yet,” he told reporters at the White House.
He said that he had asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to prepare “a range of options” for taking on the Sunni militant group. But he said military plans will be limited to Iraq. “Our core priority right now is just to make sure our folks are safe.”
“Obama’s national security team convened at the White House Thursday afternoon to discuss the contours of a still-inchoate strategy,” the paper says. “Administration officials have recently begun describing ISIS in apocalyptic and near-hysterical terms, even as they decline to endorse additional military action against it, a discrepancy that has prompted confusion in Washington and beyond.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the group has executed more than 150 men – reportedly Syrian army soldiers – in the last two days, lining them up in their underwear and gunning them down.
“The mass killing of the soldiers represented a dark end to the battle for control of the Tabqa air base in Raqqa Province,” writes Ben Hubbard. “The insurgents seized the base on Sunday after the deadliest fighting so far between ISIS and government forces.”
U.N. Peacekeepers Seized by Militants in the Golan
Reuters reports that extremist rebels have detained 43 U.N. peacekeepers in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, trapping another 81 in the region. The peacekeepers are from the Philippines and Fiji.
“During a period of increased fighting beginning yesterday between armed elements and Syrian Arab Armed Forces within the area of separation in the Golan Heights, 43 peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) were detained early this morning by an armed group in the vicinity of Al Qunaytirah,” the U.N. press office said in a statement.
The wire writes that another 81 UNDOF peacekeepers are “being restricted to their positions in the vicinity of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah.”
Syrian Refugees Top 3 Million; Half of Country Displaced
Reuters reports that 3 million Syrian refugees have registered in neighboring countries as of Friday, an exodus that shows no sign of abating. UNHCR said that the vast majority are in Lebanon (1.14 million), Turkey (815,000) and Jordan (608,000). There are more than 200,000 in Iraq, and others in Egypt and other countries.
“The record figure is 1 million refugees more than a year ago, while a further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria, meaning that almost half of all Syrians have now been forced to abandon their homes,” the wire writes.
“The Syrian crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era, yet the world is failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them,” said Antonio Guterres, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, in a statement.